Ingredient: Butter

We are always excited to see more Amish Roll Butter in the share box! You may be wondering what makes Amish Roll Butter different from the butter in a grocery store?My obvious answer is taste, one taste of this butter and you will never go back, trust me. My second answer involves the process of making the butter. Amish Roll Butter is rolled and packaged by hand. Rolling the butter is what lets the fat spread out and keep its flavor. Grocery store butter is formed into sticks using machines so the butter fat is squeezed and not aloud to naturally spread out. The butter is put into tubes for molding and shaping and this alters the natural flavors of the butter. So, once the Amish roll butter is churned (they do this part with a machine), it is not put through equipment. Instead, the butter is hand rolled and packaged so the fat stays put and the flavor is amazing.

Here are some tricks to keep it safe and sound until you are ready for use.

If you love the spreadability of this creamy butter, but can’t wait for it to come to temp, then a butter bell/crock is for you! We first learned about this lovely little invention from fellow Springdellian Marian Harwood. (Thanks, Marian!) When used properly, it will keep butter safely at room temperature for up to 30 days!

Simply smush the butter into the “bell” part of the butter bell. (You need to start with slightly softened butter for this step.)Add just enough water to seal the bell (an inch is plenty for this bell).Invert your butter “bell” into the crockand….…there you have it- delicious and spreadable butter at a moment’s notice!

If you live in a warm house, we suggest keeping your crock in a cooler area. If the butter gets too warm, it may melt and drop out of the bell and into the water. Start with just a smidge of butter, (whatever you might use in a sitting or two) and see what amount is going to work best for you, your butter storage area, and the capacity of your inverted crock. We can’t guarantee that you’ll not begin devouring more butter with one of these around, in fact, we can pretty much guarantee the opposite.

If you’d like to extend your butter for even longer than the date on the package, then freezing it is a great option.

Start with the entire roll of butter, which is 2 pounds, the equivalent of 2 boxes of market butter. Cut it in half.From there, cut it into fourths.Then cut the fourths in half to make eight discs.Each disk will be roughly the equivalent of one stick of butter.Separate each disc with a small square of parchment paper.Stack the discs into a large freezer bag, removing as much air as possible. Be sure to fold and save your butter wrapper. Store the wrapper in the fridge until ready for use in greasing a baking pan or cookie sheet.

Check out our recipe for Herb Butter, it’s a wonderful way to preserve herbs for winter use!

You love the zucchini breads, and the zucchini muffins, etc, but these bars add shredded coconut and a light cinnamon glaze to bring zucchini to a new level! This delicious treat comes to us from fellow Springdellian Mira G’s collection of family recipes. Thank you for sharing, Mira!

We don’t get too much cauliflower in the share and it’s season is short. Having tried cauliflower rice, mashed cauliflower and cauliflower pizza crust, this may be my favorite use for cauliflower to date. Food Network’s recipe is great as-is, but if cutting corners to save time is your thing, perhaps make this dish in 2 phases as suggested in this post.

These scones are scrumptious! Review the recipe to see which stir-ins you might want to try with these, as they are not on the CSA365 pantry “staples” list and will likely require a trip to the market. (i.e. crystallized ginger, cinnamon chips, coarse sugar etc). You can skip the fancy stir-ins as well, a healthy sprinkle of cinnamon sugar also works.

Here’s another one from Farmer Jamie, great especially for those that aren’d big fans of nog in beverage form. Thick cut white bread is Jamie’s pick for the best textured bread for this one. Try this one today, and let us know what you think!

This one was brought to our attention by Farmer Jamie, a great recipe for those that aren’t big fans of nog in beverage form. I haven’t made it yet but I plan to, as soon as I can hold onto some egg nog long enough… If you make it, please check in and let us know what you think! Please note you’ll need 1 package of Instant Vanilla pudding mix, not something that’s on our “Staples” list in the pantry.